Safety bumper for furniture

ABSTRACT

A safe protective cover for exposed sharp edges and corners of pieces of furniture and the like, and more particularly for home furniture, and generally is intended to be reusable without abrupt degradation of quality and appearance. Said safe protective cover includes several molded or extruded shapes of a non toxic, fire-retardant, resilient and flexible elastomeric plastic material such as elastomer, polyurethane, compounded rubber, and the like in a variety of colors wherein said shapes and colors complimenting the shapes and colors of pieces of home furniture and the likes; a peelable, reusable adhesive coating on corresponding surfaces of said protective cover which compliments sharp edges and corners of pieces of home furniture to be protected, and a thin plastic film protecting said adhesive coated surfaces prior to use. The shapes of a safe protective cover can be circular in cross section with a slit or a notch, wherein the notch can be from an acute angle to an obtuse angle, an angled strip, an L-shape, an elongated rectangular shape, and other shapes complimentary to common shapes inherent to edges and corners of furniture.

[ 1 Mar. 4, 1975 SAFETY BUMPER FOR FURNITURE [76] Inventor: StephenGregov, 3745 West 60th Pl., Chicago, 111. 60629 [22] Filed: Nov. 22,1972 [21] Appl. No.: 308,840

[52] US. Cl 248/345.1, 52/614, 52/716, 108/27, 161/167 [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,417,961 3/1947 Wiley 248/3451 2,995,8638/1961 Bright 248/3451 3,030,728 4/1962 Wesman 248/3451 3,041,775 7/1962Brown et a1. 248/3451 3,108,393 10/1963 Baker 248/3451 3,173,826 3/1965Campbell r 248/3451 3,439,950 4/1969 Kunericius 161/161 3,580,469 5/1971Reese r 248/3451 3,722,700 3/1973 Cummings" 248/3451 3,725,188 4/1973Kali l6l/l67 Primary Examiner-George F. Lesmes Assistant E.\'amitzerR.J. Roche Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Marden S. Gordon [57] ABSTRACT A safeprotective cover for exposed sharp edges and corners of pieces offurniture and the like, and more particularly for home furniture, andgenerally is intended to be reusable without abrupt degradation ofquality and appearance. Said safe protective cover includes severalmolded or extruded shapes of a non toxic, fire-retardant, resilient andflexible elastomeric plastic material such as elastomer, polyurethane,compounded rubber, and the like in a variety of colors wherein saidshapes and colors complimenting the shapes and colors of pieces of homefurniture and the likes; a peelable, reusable adhesive coating oncorresponding surfaces of said protective cover which compliments sharpedges and corners of pieces of home furniture to be protected, and athin plastic film protecting said adhesive coated surfaces prior to use.The shapes of a safe protective cover can be circular in cross sectionwith a slit or a notch, wherein the notch can be from an acute angle toan obtuse angle, an angled strip, an L-shape, an elongated rectangularshape, and other shapes complimentary to common shapes inherent to edgesand corners of furniture.

1 Claim, 8 Drawing lFigures FIG.

FIG. 4

HG. I

1 SAFETY BUMPER FOR FURNITURE which are reusable, hence, easilyinstalledor removed' It is directed more specifically to protectingusers and occupants of such pieces of furniture rather than protectingthe furniture itself.

2. Description of Prior Art Prior art known relates mostly to pads toprotect corners of furniture and as such are used in packing pieces offurniture for shipments. Said corner pads are most likely not resilientbut more in the rigid area, yet have force absorbing qualities. Theclosest known means .of protective covers used to protect clothes fromfurniture and such, applies to office furniture, i.e., desks, chairs,and the like. It is more in the area of covering any possible burrs leftin the finish of furniture and as such, a wide surface area is to becovered, corners and edges included. In addition, said-closest knownmeans of protective covers is intended to be installed semipermanent andis not reusable. Semi-permanent attachmentsmar the furniture if removed,mars that are difficult to eliminate.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In this day and age where safety is the majorconcern of all, and manufactures and producers struggling within theirmeans toeconomically'produce safe products through the advocations ofusers and comsumers and state and local government agencies, it shouldbe gratifying for any groundwork started, no matter how trivial. Safetyprotective furniture bumpers can be considered in this area. i

One of the dangers that plagues parents of children who are in theplayfully active age is the possibility that the child may fall or bumpagainst pieces of home furniture having sharp edges or corners andbecoming injured. The injury can be slight or serious, just the same,

the greater possibility of injury is there. As a saying goes An ounceofprevention is worth a pound of cure" and in this case, a safety'bumperon exposed edges and corners can prevent injury.

It is one object of this invention to provide protection for any childor adult who may accidentally fall or bump against corners and edges offurniture.

It is another object of this invention to offer an eco nomicallypractical means of protecting exposed cor ners and edges of furniture.

It is a further object to provide a reusable meansof protective coverfor exposed corners and edges of fur-- niture.

.It is yet another object to provide a safety protective cover forexposed corners and edges of furniture without damaging or marring thefurniture during installation or when removed.

Other objects and advantages will come to the surface as the descriptionof the invention is continued through the illustrated drawings ofpreferred embodiments attached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a simple perspective .of aparabolic cross sectional shape with the longitudinal notch along themajor diameter and the thin plastic film covering adhesive coatingpartly peeled off.

FIG/2 shows another cross sectional shape with a longitudinal slit, theslit widening toward the center.

FIG. 3 shows a simple perspective of an angled strip together with thethin plastic film partly peeled off.

FIG. 4 is yet another shape which is a solid cylinder with alongitudinal notch.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Referring now more specifically to thedrawings,

therein illustrated a new yet economical'and practical safety protectivecover for exposed sharp edges and corners of pieces of home furnitureand designated by f the numerals I0, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 38 as shown inFIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 8 respec-: tively. Thesafety protective cover'l0 includes an extruded resilient and non toxicmaterial 17 with an angled notch formed by sides 18 and 19. Said sides,18 and 19 are coated with a reusable adhesive. Said adhesive coating isprotected during shipment and when not in use by a peelable thin plasticfilm. Said sides 18 and 19 are not necessarily equal as the line 23formed by sides 18 and 19 is not necessarily along the major diameter ofthe parabolic cross section.

Another complimenting shape 21 of the safety pro tective cover 11,consists of an extruded non toxic resilient material with a longitudinalslit 22 which widens toward the center 2211. The slit surfaces may ormay not be adhesive coated.

, Another form of the safety protective cover is an angled strip 12 ofreasonable thickness. It comprises the same extruded material as thefirst two described shapes l0 and 11. The sides 24 and 25 are notnecessarily equal.

The safety protective cover 13 takes yet another form which is acircular cross section again with a longitudinal notch with sides 33 and.34. The line 32 formed by said sides 33 and 34 is not necessarily atthe center. Sides 33 and 34 are coated with a reusable adhesive andprotected while not in use by a peelable thin plastic film 20, as areother protective covers.

An additionaal shape the safety protective cover can take is a squarestep wave 14, wherein said shape is shown in FIG. 5 installed tocompliment edge 37. In v this said shape, surfaces 35 and 36 willsuffice to be coated with a reusable adhesive.

A safety protective cover 38 for sharp corners, is in the shape of an L.In this case, it is a molded part.

In FIG. 6, the coffee table 15, is shown the partial installations ofsafety protective cover shape 10 at 29, 30, and 31, and also a cornerinstallation 26 with bond 27 in the L complimenting the sharp corner.

Shape 10 is also shown at 39 applied as a safety protective cover overouter corners of legs of coffee table. The light fixture 16, on occasionis installed lower probably to have more light in some areas. The edgesof said fixture 16 most often are sharp, hence, a safety Thou gh theinvention is simple, the benefits the user 1 can derive from it areextremely important.

I claim 1. A' protective safety bumper intended for covering exposedsharp edges, corners, and the like of an article of furniture, thebumper comprising, in combination:

a longitudinally elongated reusable strip of resilient maaterial adaptedto straddle the exposed edge, exposed corners, and the like of thearticle of furniture and extend completely therealong;

said strip of resilient material being of an elongated solid cylindricalconfiguration having a circular cross-section; 7

said strip of resilient material being manufactured of a flexiblepolyurethane plastic material;

a notch extending'longitudinally through a side wall of said strip ofmaterial completely between opposite ends of said strip of material;

said .notch having a generally W-shaped crosssectional configurationconsisting of two adjacent parallely extending contiguous V-shapedcrosssectional configuration disposed side-by-side with the respectivesurfaces of each of the V-shaped configurations being in parallelrelationship to each other, thus being a total of four surfaces definingthe W-shaped configuration with a first pair of two of said surfacesbeing parallel to each other and a second set of two surfaces beingparallel to each other; 7

said W-shaped notch being of a cross-sectional configurationcomplementary to the edge, corner and the like to be protected on thearticle of furniture;

the apex portion of said W-shaped configuration disposed along adiametric line of said strip material;

, the two 'bottommost points of said W-shaped notch configuration lyingco-planar along a diametric line of said strip of material; I

a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive material disposed completelyalong each of said four surfaces of said W-shaped notch, said adhesiveadapted for removably securing said strip of material to said article offurniture with said notch surfaces straddling said edge of said articleof furniture to be protected and with said notch surfaces being disposedin contacting juxtaposition with said complementary surfaces of saidarticle of furniture;

a thin flat elongated sheet of flexible plastic film-like materialcompletely covering saidcoating of pressure sensitive adhesive, the filmsheet adapted to be peeled from said pressure sensitive coating immediately prior to application of the strip of material to the surface ofthe article of furniture to be protected; whereby said strip ofresilient material defines a shock absorbing cusion disposed alongthesurface ofsaid article of furniture to be protected thereby.

1. A protective safety bumper intended for covering exposed sharp edges,corners, and the like of an article of furniture, the bumper comprising,in combination: a longitudinally elongated reusable strip of resilientmaaterial adapted to straddle the exposed edge, exposed corners, and thelike of the article of furniture and extend completely therealong; saidstrip of resilient material being of an elongated solid cylindricalconfiguration having a circular cross-section; said strip of resilientmaterial being manufactured of a flexible polyurethane plastic material;a notch extending longitudinally through a side wall of said strip ofmaterial completely between opposite ends of said strip of material;said notch having a generally W-shaped cross-sectional configurationconsisting of two adjacent parallely extending contiguous V-shapedcross-sectional configuration disposed side-by-side with the respectivesurfaces of each of the Vshaped configurations being in parallelrelationship to each other, thus being a total of four surfaces definingthe Wshaped configuration with a first pair of two of said surfacesbeing parallel to each other and a second set of two surfaces beingparallel to each other; said W-shaped notch being of a cross-sectionalconfiguration complementary to the edge, corner and the like to beprotected on the article of furniture; the apex portion of said W-shapedconfiguration disposed along a diametric line of said strip material;the two bottommost points of said W-shaped notch configuration lyingco-planar along a diametric line of said strip of material; a coating ofpressure-sensitive adhesive material disposed completely along each ofsaid four surfaces of said W-shaped notch, said adhesive adapted forremovably securing said strip of material to said article of furniturewith said notch surfaces straddling said edge of said article offurniture to be protected and with said notch surfaces being disposed incontacting juxtaposition with said complementary surfaces of saidarticle of furniture; a thin flat elongated sheet of flexible plasticfilm-like material completely covering said coating of pressuresensitive adhesive, the film sheet adapted to be peeled from saidpressure sensitive coating immediately prior to application of the stripof material to the surface of the article of furniture to be protected;whereby said strip of resilient material defines a shock absorbingcusion disposed along the surface of said article of furniture to beprotected thereby.